6 Ways to Keep Yourself Going When You’re Almost Ready to Quit

No matter who we are, there are times when we will feel down, when things will feel difficult, when things will feel tough and we will want to give up. Successful people have the same problem too. They face times when they feel down, stuck in life and want to quit. The only difference between successful people and ordinary people lies in how they deal with this situation.

Here are 6 ways to keep yourself going when you’re almost ready to quit:

1. Revisit Your Purpose

Why do you do what you do in the first place? Why do you want to achieve your goal? Why do you want to be financially rich? Why do you want to be a millionaire?

Remember, your reasons behind your goals will become your driving force. And how strong that force is will be determined by how emotional and how strong your reasons are. Most people are not truly committed to their goals simply because they don’t have a strong reason behind them to drive them. It doesn’t really matter to them if they don’t achieve their goals.

When your purpose behind doing something is strong and emotional, you will do whatever it takes to accomplish the task. If you read the biographies of successful people, you will notice that it was when life hit them the hardest that they were able to bounce back and achieve even more. They created amazing results after facing big failures. This is because when you leave yourself with no other options but to achieve what you are set out to accomplish, you will definitely fulfill your desire.

What you can do: Before you give up and quit, think about the reason why you started. Revisit your purpose and make sure the reasons behind it are strong, emotional and able to push you to achieve what you want in life.

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2. Remember Your Accomplishments

When you are down and want to quit, think about all the things you have accomplished before. No matter who you are and what you have done, you should have some accomplishments to look back on. If you say that you have no achievements, think harder.

If you are reading this right now, you are doing much better than those who are not aware of wanting success and something more out of life. At least you dare to dream and somehow came across this article. Therefore, you must not let obstacles stop you. Think about all the great things you have done.

Learn this technique called “celebrate all wins.” Regardless of whether your win is big or small, just celebrate it. This is how Tiger Woods creates his anchor state and changes his feelings. Every time he swings his golf club to hit the ball to the location he wants, he will celebrate it with a ‘pump’ with his hand and his fist. This is how he celebrates his wins.

You have to celebrate your wins too. This is important because when you are down and feeling like you want to quit, you will be in a lousy state and thinking negative thoughts. You will never feel good about anything if you are in this state. When you change your feelings, you will change your thinking and your state. And when you are feeling good, great things will come to you.

This is why you have to constantly remind yourself of your accomplishments and celebrate all your achievements, big and small.

What you can do: Get yourself a note pad where you can record all of your accomplishments. You can write them down, draw them, or even cut out relevant pictures and paste them into your note pad. Go through your winning note pad often, especially when you need it most.

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3. Understand That Setbacks and Obstacles Are Necessary

This is just a natural law that you need to understand. We learn the most through failures and obstacles, not through success and winnings. Often, it is only when a relationship breaks down that we learn to appreciate each other. We learn the importance of money when we have none. This is why success is a lousy teacher; you learn the most from failures.

If you have never failed before, you have to work smart and learn from others’ failures and experience. Look at Michael Jordan, he missed more than 9,000 shots in his career. His team entrusted him with the winning shot and he failed, not only once, but 26 times. Jordan said that he failed over and over again, that is why he succeeds.

Remember, rocks can be turned into diamonds given enough pressure. Just like there will be a rainbow after the rain. Tough times are necessary to test your tenacity. Obstacles are there for you to overcome because they are your greatest learning experiences.

Every great leader and every successful person will have to go through this process. You will be the same. You need to understand that setbacks and obstacles are necessary. So press on and just get through it.

What you can do: Never lose hope, keep on working and improving your strategies, learn from your setbacks and obstacles. Most of all, never give up.

4. Focus on What You Do Best

Stop thinking about quitting or worrying if things will ever work out. Instead, think about what you do best and just do it. This is exactly what happened to Donald Trump, the real estate billionaire, many years ago. When the economy goes down, many businessmen go bankrupt, and many people worry about their finances. What Donald Trump did when this happened to him is a little bit unique from the rest. When most people were worrying about how bad the situation would be, he was out there doing what he did best; negotiating real estate deals. Guess what? He did manage to turn the situation around for himself and made a comeback. He got himself out of millions of dollars of debt and went ahead to earn billions of dollars more.

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When you are facing tough times, you should never worry or think about how bad the situation is going to be. Worrying cannot get you out of the situation, and focusing on the problem is not going to help either. What you have to do is to get out of the trap by focusing on what you do best.

Bill Gates consistently focused on developing the best software, he never really worried so much about handling objections and complaints from his customers. This is because he knew that developing software was what he did best. He just needed to focus on creating the best software that added value to people’s lives. Customer complaints would be handled by other people, his staff.

You don’t have to give up on your dreams or goals. Let go of the negative thoughts and feelings that make you miserable and think you want to quit. Change your mind-set to a positive one and feel great by doing what you love.

What you can do: Take action and focus on things that will get you out of the negative loop. Do not focus in the problem. Instead, think of the solution by working on things you are passionate about and are meant to do.

5. Clear Your Head

When the world around you seems to crumble, maybe it is time for you to get out of it and stay clear. You cannot think if you are stuck in a blurry thought pattern. What you have to do is to get out of it.

So clear your head. When you are worrying about things not going smoothly and you are considering quitting, maybe you should take a walk, go for a trip, get a good sleep, or do something totally not related to the problem.

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This can be a great strategy to overcome the obstacles you face. If you were lost in a jungle and you didn’t know which direction to follow, what could you do? Perhaps trying to get to higher ground so that you can see the bigger picture and which direction you should go might be a good idea, right? This is exactly what you do. Get yourself out of the maze by doing something unrelated.

Stop thinking about the problem. And when you stop dwelling on the problems, the solutions may automatically appear to you.

What you can do: Do something that can clear your mind. Take a walk in the garden, get some sleep, get your favorite beverage, watch a movie, go window shopping, go cycling, go hiking, go diving, take a swim, go for a jog, etc. You can even go for holiday, travel to other country, or do something out of the norm if you want to.

6. You Are Not Alone

Always remember that you are not alone. There are so many people around you who are waiting to assist you and support you.

One of the wisest ways to get back up when you are down and want to give up is to read motivational books. If you haven’t read any of these books before, try to read Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biography, Richard Branson’s success story, read about Nick Vujicic, read about Steve Jobs, and read books by Anthony Robbins. There are so many great books out there waiting for you, and you only need to spend 30 minutes to an hour a day to read them.

Beside books, you can look for mentors or people who can give you mental support. When you talk to these positive people, you will get influenced by their positivity and your thoughts will become brighter. If you mix with negative people, you will give up sooner and quit faster. Hence, mix and network with people who think positively.

There is a saying, if you want to know how much your income is, try to figure out your close friends’ incomes and get the average. Your income will never run too far from that figure. Who you talk to and who you mix with count.

What you can do: Go to your local bookstore, get yourself some motivational books and commit 30 minutes to an hour a day to read them. Network and talk to positive people who can support you. Get yourself a mentor and immerse yourself in the positive energy pool.

Why To-Do Lists Don’t Work (And How to Change That)

How often do you feel overwhelmed and disorganized in life, whether at work or home? We all seem to struggle with time management in some area of our life; one of the most common phrases besides “I love you” is “I don’t have time”. Everyone suggests working from a to-do list to start getting your life more organized, but why do these lists also have a negative connotation to them?

Let’s say you have a strong desire to turn this situation around with all your good intentions—you may then take out a piece of paper and pen to start tackling this intangible mess with a to-do list. What usually happens, is that you either get so overwhelmed seeing everything on your list, which leaves you feeling worse than you did before, or you make the list but are completely stuck on how to execute it effectively.

To-do lists can work for you, but if you are not using them effectively, they can actually leave you feeling more disillusioned and stressed than you did before. Think of a filing system: the concept is good, but if you merely file papers away with no structure or system, the filing system will have an adverse effect. It’s the same with to-do lists—you can put one together, but if you don’t do it right, it is a fruitless exercise.

Why Some People Find That General To-Do Lists Don’t Work?

Most people find that general to-do lists don’t work because:

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They get so overwhelmed just by looking at all the things they need to do.

They don’t know how to prioritize the items on list.

They feel that they are continuously adding to their list but not reducing it.

There’s a sense of confusion seeing home tasks mixed with work tasks.

Benefits of Using a To-Do List

However, there are many advantages working from a to-do list:

You have clarity on what you need to get done.

You will feel less stressed because all your ‘to do’s are on paper and out of your mind.

It helps you to prioritize your actions.

You don’t overlook so many tasks and forget anything.

You feel more organized.

It helps you with planning.

4 Golden Rules to Make a To-Do List Work

Here are my golden rules for making a “to-do” list work:

1. Categorize

Studies have shown that your brain gets overwhelmed when it sees a list of 7 or 8 options; it wants to shut down.[1] For this reason, you need to work from different lists. Separate them into different categories and don’t have more than 7 or 8 tasks on each one.

It might work well for you to have a “project” list, a “follow-up” list, and a “don’t forget” list; you will know what will work best for you, as these titles will be different for everybody.

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2. Add Estimations

You don’t merely need to know what has to be done, but how long it will take as well in order to plan effectively.

Imagine on your list you have one task that will take 30 minutes, another that could take 1 hour, and another that could take 4 hours. You need to know the moment you look at the task, otherwise you undermine your planning, so add an extra column to your list and include your estimation of how long you think the task will take, and be realistic!

Tip: If you find it a challenge to estimate accurately, then start by building this skill on a daily basis. Estimate how long it will take to get ready, cook dinner, go for a walk, etc., and then compare this to the actual time it took you. You will start to get more accurate in your estimations.

3. Prioritize

To effectively select what you should work on, you need to take into consideration: priority, sequence and estimated time. Add another column to your list for priority. Divide your tasks into four categories:

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Important and urgent

Not urgent but important

Not important but urgent

Not important or urgent

You want to work on tasks that are urgent and important of course, but also, select some tasks that are important and not urgent. Why? Because these tasks are normally related to long-term goals, and when you only work on tasks that are urgent and important, you’ll feel like your day is spent putting out fires. You’ll end up neglecting other important areas which most often end up having negative consequences.

Most of your time should be spent on the first two categories.

4. Review

To make this list work effectively for you, it needs to become a daily tool that you use to manage your time and you review it regularly. There is no point in only having the list to record everything that you need to do, but you don’t utilize it as part of your bigger time management plan.

For example: At the end of every week, review the list and use it to plan the week ahead. Select what you want to work on taking into consideration priority, time and sequence and then schedule these items into your calendar. Golden rule in planning: don’t schedule more than 75% of your time.

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Bottom Line

So grab a pen and paper and give yourself the gift of a calm and clear mind by unloading everything in there and onto a list as now, you have all the tools you need for it to work. Knowledge is useless unless it is applied—how badly do you want more time?